Failing Law Schools

On the surface, law schools today are thriving. Enrollments are on the rise, and their resources are often the envy of every other university department. Yet behind the flourishing facade, law schools are failing abjectly. Recent front-page stories have detailed widespread dubious practices, misleading placement reports, and the fundamental failure to prepare graduates to enter the profession. Addressing all these problems and more in a ringing critique is renowned legal scholar Brian Z. Tamanaha. Piece by piece, Tamanaha lays out the how and why of the crisis and the likely consequences if the current trend continues. At the heart of the problem, he argues, are the economic demands and competitive pressures on law schools - driven by competition over U.S. News and World Report ranking. When paired with a lack of regulatory oversight, the work environment of professors, the limited information available to prospective students, and loan-based tuition financing, the result is a system that is fundamentally unsustainable. With "Failing Law Schools", Tamanaha has provided the perfect resource for assessing what's wrong with law schools and figuring out how to fix them.